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"title": "The Keyboard Wars",
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"plaintext": "There's a content creator I've found incredibly helpful in these trying times: William Spaniel."
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"plaintext": "They run an excellent channel on YouTube: \"Lines On Maps\". "
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"plaintext": "They do a fantastic job of breaking down current events around conflicts thru the lens of game theory. As you might imagine, in a year that's see at least three wars and counting (by April), this channel is incredibly useful."
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"plaintext": "Do yourself a favor and check it out, it's great."
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"plaintext": "Spaniel has a habit of jokingly referring to themselves as a \"Keyboard Warrior\". Mainly, they'll bring it up in the context of not having as much information as people in the decision making process."
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"plaintext": "Their repeated use of the phrase got me thinking, and so I share some of these off topic thoughts will all of you."
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"plaintext": "The Old Insult"
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"plaintext": "The old insult about keyboard warriors was always implicit: typing isn't fighting."
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"plaintext": "All else being equal, we're much less likely to be at physical risk by typing and talking than by resorting to fisticuffs. You're exponentially more likely to survive a keyboard confrontation than you are to survive a knife fight."
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"plaintext": "So the term has often been used very derisively, especially by people like the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. When those people call others keyboard warriors, it has a real \"fight me bro\" vibe to it, and this is not a good look."
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"plaintext": "For decades, \"Keyboard Warrior\" has been an insult delivered along these lines."
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"plaintext": "I think it's time we reclaim this phrase, and realize that we're in some very real, very deadly, keyboard wars."
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"plaintext": "The New Reality"
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"plaintext": "There was a lot of uproar about the US military's desire to use Anthropic to help plan and execute airstrikes. Long stories made short: Anthropic has a policy preventing the use of AI in automated lethal scenarios, and the current administration got really mad that they couldn't use AI to help figure out who to hit next. "
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"plaintext": "Basically, they wanted automated kill-bots, they did not get them (yet)."
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"plaintext": "This obviously an ethical nightmare. It's also a deeply ironic one."
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"plaintext": "Let's ask ourselves:"
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"plaintext": "If wars are being fought via remote control and prompts that describe targeting criteria, what would you call that sort of \"warrior\"?"
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"plaintext": "\"Coward\" might be an obvious choice."
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"plaintext": "\"Fool\" might be another."
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"plaintext": "I feel like it's most ironic and appropriate that we call them what they undeniably are: Keyboard Warriors."
},
{
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"plaintext": "There's still not too much risk to being a keyboard warrior."
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"plaintext": "The difference between this type of keyboard warrior and the older use of the term is simple and stark: These keyboard warriors actually kill."
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"plaintext": "Begun, the Keyboard Wars Have."
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.heading",
"level": 2,
"plaintext": "The Keyboard Wars "
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{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "The keyboard warrior class has probably been with us longer than the typewriter."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "I'm sure many generals in World War I typed out their orders, and let people they would never meet die for decisions they made. I'm equally sure many of the \"top brass\" in World War II weren't picking up a rifle and joining the fight. It's been nearly universally agreed that it's a bad idea to put kings and generals on front lines, if only because it's often ended badly."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "Being able to fight directly with a keyboard is a much more recent invention."
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.heading",
"level": 3,
"plaintext": "Current Keyboard Wars"
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"plaintext": "Since there have been drone operators, there have been lethal keyboard warriors."
},
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"plaintext": "In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and far too many other countries to type, we've seen people killed by remote control."
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"plaintext": "This is not a good thing."
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"plaintext": "Throughout the world, we've also seen \"less than lethal\" keyboard warriors incite violence. The Culture Wars have been killing people in the US since at least 1993 (see Brandon Teena). The January 6th Insurrection? Instigated by keyboard warriors. The list could go on and on, but this post is depressing enough as it stands."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "Currently, two active conflicts have a lot of keyboard warriors in the fray."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "On the \"good\" side, Ukraine's ingenious defenders have proved, once and again, how effective remote controlled drones can be at keeping an enemy at bay. Russia's \"non-keyboard\" warriors appear to be cannon fodder (?drone fodder?). "
},
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "On the \"bad\" side, automated targeting selection is the quietly huge story in the war in Iran. It was also a quietly huge story in the war in Gaza."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.heading",
"level": 3,
"plaintext": "Why This Is Wrong"
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"plaintext": "In my opinion, this is one of the worst developments in human history."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "In case you're the sort of keyboard warrior that wants to scream \"you're wrong\", let me make my case in simple terms."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "Let's take a classic case of self-defense."
},
{
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"plaintext": "Imagine someone is running at you with a knife, or shooting at you with a gun. Clearly it's within your unalienable human rights to defend yourself. Cut and dry."
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"plaintext": "Now imagine that your friend says \"this person is going to kill you\". Do you have any right to harm that person? Of course not! Obviously, this is bad. Cut and dry."
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"plaintext": "Automated targeting selection is so much worse than this."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "Automated targeting selection is, effectively, \"my imaginary friend told me you needed to die\"."
},
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"plaintext": "There is no universe in which that is anywhere near morally justified."
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"plaintext": "It's especially unjust when your imaginary friend is less than 10 years old, often hallucinates, and doesn't have any clue of the difference between correlation and causation."
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.heading",
"level": 3,
"plaintext": "Ending Keyboard Wars"
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"plaintext": "Call me old-fashioned if you want, but I feel like \"sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me\" should be true."
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"plaintext": "Prompts can do many things, but prompts should not be used to kill."
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"plaintext": "Words should not kill."
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"plaintext": "I feel like this should be one of the simple and sound moral foundations of our modern world."
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"plaintext": "I may not believe in normal, but I do believe in right and wrong."
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"plaintext": "If you disagree, don't bother atting me."
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"plaintext": "Just please don't kill me (or anyone else), using a keyboard."
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"description": "Prompts Should Not Be Used To Kill",
"publishedAt": "2026-04-01T00:04:41+00:00",
"textContent": "There's a content creator I've found incredibly helpful in these trying times: William Spaniel.\nThey run an excellent channel on YouTube: \"Lines On Maps\". \nThey do a fantastic job of breaking down current events around conflicts thru the lens of game theory. As you might imagine, in a year that's see at least three wars and counting (by April), this channel is incredibly useful.\nDo yourself a favor and check it out, it's great.\nSpaniel has a habit of jokingly referring to themselves as a \"Keyboard Warrior\". Mainly, they'll bring it up in the context of not having as much information as people in the decision making process.\nTheir repeated use of the phrase got me thinking, and so I share some of these off topic thoughts will all of you.\nThe Old Insult\nThe old insult about keyboard warriors was always implicit: typing isn't fighting.\nAll else being equal, we're much less likely to be at physical risk by typing and talking than by resorting to fisticuffs. You're exponentially more likely to survive a keyboard confrontation than you are to survive a knife fight.\nSo the term has often been used very derisively, especially by people like the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. When those people call others keyboard warriors, it has a real \"fight me bro\" vibe to it, and this is not a good look.\nFor decades, \"Keyboard Warrior\" has been an insult delivered along these lines.\nI think it's time we reclaim this phrase, and realize that we're in some very real, very deadly, keyboard wars.\nThe New Reality\nThere was a lot of uproar about the US military's desire to use Anthropic to help plan and execute airstrikes. Long stories made short: Anthropic has a policy preventing the use of AI in automated lethal scenarios, and the current administration got really mad that they couldn't use AI to help figure out who to hit next. \nBasically, they wanted automated kill-bots, they did not get them (yet).\nThis obviously an ethical nightmare. It's also a deeply ironic one.\nLet's ask ourselves:\nIf wars are being fought via remote control and prompts that describe targeting criteria, what would you call that sort of \"warrior\"?\n\"Coward\" might be an obvious choice.\n\"Fool\" might be another.\nI feel like it's most ironic and appropriate that we call them what they undeniably are: Keyboard Warriors.\nThere's still not too much risk to being a keyboard warrior.\nThe difference between this type of keyboard warrior and the older use of the term is simple and stark: These keyboard warriors actually kill.\nBegun, the Keyboard Wars Have.\nThe Keyboard Wars \nThe keyboard warrior class has probably been with us longer than the typewriter.\nI'm sure many generals in World War I typed out their orders, and let people they would never meet die for decisions they made. I'm equally sure many of the \"top brass\" in World War II weren't picking up a rifle and joining the fight. It's been nearly universally agreed that it's a bad idea to put kings and generals on front lines, if only because it's often ended badly.\nBeing able to fight directly with a keyboard is a much more recent invention.\nCurrent Keyboard Wars\nSince there have been drone operators, there have been lethal keyboard warriors.\nIn Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and far too many other countries to type, we've seen people killed by remote control.\nThis is not a good thing.\nThroughout the world, we've also seen \"less than lethal\" keyboard warriors incite violence. The Culture Wars have been killing people in the US since at least 1993 (see Brandon Teena). The January 6th Insurrection? Instigated by keyboard warriors. The list could go on and on, but this post is depressing enough as it stands.\nCurrently, two active conflicts have a lot of keyboard warriors in the fray.\nOn the \"good\" side, Ukraine's ingenious defenders have proved, once and again, how effective remote controlled drones can be at keeping an enemy at bay. Russia's \"non-keyboard\" warriors appear to be cannon fodder (?drone fodder?). \nOn the \"bad\" side, automated targeting selection is the quietly huge story in the war in Iran. It was also a quietly huge story in the war in Gaza.\nWhy This Is Wrong\nIn my opinion, this is one of the worst developments in human history.\nIn case you're the sort of keyboard warrior that wants to scream \"you're wrong\", let me make my case in simple terms.\nLet's take a classic case of self-defense.\nImagine someone is running at you with a knife, or shooting at you with a gun. Clearly it's within your unalienable human rights to defend yourself. Cut and dry.\nNow imagine that your friend says \"this person is going to kill you\". Do you have any right to harm that person? Of course not! Obviously, this is bad. Cut and dry.\nAutomated targeting selection is so much worse than this.\nAutomated targeting selection is, effectively, \"my imaginary friend told me you needed to die\".\nThere is no universe in which that is anywhere near morally justified.\nIt's especially unjust when your imaginary friend is less than 10 years old, often hallucinates, and doesn't have any clue of the difference between correlation and causation.\nEnding Keyboard Wars\nCall me old-fashioned if you want, but I feel like \"sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me\" should be true.\nPrompts can do many things, but prompts should not be used to kill.\nWords should not kill.\nI feel like this should be one of the simple and sound moral foundations of our modern world.\nI may not believe in normal, but I do believe in right and wrong.\nIf you disagree, don't bother atting me.\nJust please don't kill me (or anyone else), using a keyboard."
}